Watching and Not Waiting
by Frenchiegirl
Summary: Klaatu is all about watching, but never waiting. Oneshot-type thingie, possible part 2.


_Disclaimer: I don't own The Day the Earth Stood Still or any of its characters and make no profit for writing this piece._

_AN: This is different, really, but do give it a chance since it's all for fun, and for the love of Klaatu is his many forms (some of which I've enjoyed reading here on recently). It's a__ drabbleish thing written because I couldn't get it out of my head after watching Klaatu do his thing. Now if I could only find the time and motivation to get that kissing-plus oneshot down, since there doesn't appear to be one written yet, that'd be nice as well._

Surreptitiously, Klaatu watched Helen watching him out of the corner of his eye as he sat talking to Mr. Wu in the McDonald's restaurant. He shifted in his seat as Wu paused to sip his tea. He felt on edge and he could not define precisely why. That was a first for Klaatu.

There was something about her, this Helen. Something that not only his human male body reacted to, but something about the woman that pulled at a deeper part of him. I t pulled at that part of himself invisible to the outside world, at least the human world; the part hidden under layers of human flesh and bone that existed before his arrival on this planet. His true self.

Still, human pheromones were a powerful enough force own their own, Klaatu found, and those could be quite distracting to his physical body. The back of Klaatu's neck felt warm and he was sure that Helen must be watching him from her place seated behind him again.

Yes, they were more powerful than anticipated to be sure, Klaatu decided as he suppressed the urge to turn to confirm his suspicion that Helen was indeed staring at him.

Still, not that it mattered. No he would not turn. He would not react. His pleasure and pain management training during his first "test" human body should have taken care of any self-control issues Klaatu might have encountered as a human. Which was not much. By nature, Klaatu was numb to emotion and most sensory input. Some might say much more so than his brethren, which was why he was placed in the role of judge and exterminator in the first place. But that's a whole other story in itself. At any rate, this lack of feeling or emotion was a part of the many sacrifices that his race had made in order to survive the death of their sun. They'd learned how to shed their corporeal forms and become beings of shadow and energy, much like the type of matter of which the traveling spheres were made. Quite a lot of power came with that form, not that they had had any choice in the matter, since it was either adapt or cease to exist.

But even beings of shadow and energy must take sustenance. Humans needed food and drink to fuel their bodies. Klaatu's kin needed various types of energy in order to survive. Electricity, UV rays, all types of available energy around Klaatu could be readily absorbed and utilized, some more easily than others. Even life force would do in a pinch.

Of course, in the cold, dark rock that was Klaatu's world, energy now had to be manufactured and was not so readily available as on the sun-rich planet earth. Still, his kind lived well.

Not only could Klaantu manipulate electronic devices but he could also draw sustenance from them as well. Handy, really, since the human body was so frail and breakable without the added boost of power from his true nature.

Risking a quick glance at Helen once again, Klaatu thought again that his strange attraction to Helen must be due to the fact that he was expending energy on this planet in leaps and bounds. It made more sense than attributing his distraction to a mere physical reaction. And he did seem to be doing a lot of thinking about Helen since he'd arrived on this planet. She was the first human he'd met, after all.

But that was not good. Not at all.

Klaatu had a mission to complete and it was no time to, as the humans might say (and Klaatu would _never _say this though he knew the meaning), flake out.

Since communicating with and controlling the spheres positioned all over the planet took enormous effort and often left him drained of power, he was constantly running on empty. The very essence of him, the creature of shadow and energy, _that _must be what was so distracted by this woman, not merely his human shell. Perhaps simply some sort of predatory instinct to feed, as barbaric as that sounded, that was motivating his eyes to keep wandering her way, seeking her out. He was often close to her, even inches away as within the confines of the car, and he found this close contact both strangely stimulating and disconcerting. Helen was a high energy producer. Not all humans were and klaatu had yet to observe another like her even after scanning the crowded train station. She pulsed and crowded his senses with her very essence. She was highly intelligent, for a human, and possessed a sort of… zest for life that bordered on zealous.

_Zest for life_…it was a term unique to human languages. An equivalent for the phrase did not exist in his native tongue, but he was fast connecting the rote meaning with a richer, fuller comprehension through watching Helen. Whether he watched her work, which he'd had ample chance to do as while he studied his new and unfamiliar surroundings at the government laboratory, or watched how she tried again and again to connect with the young boy, Jacob, Helen ever pressed onward appearing to gain energy through facing adversity, rather than losing it. A quality that was rather unique in Klaatu's opinion.

Still, he was wasting too much of his own mental energies on this strange and unexpected attachment to the human woman. He pushed her to the back of his mind and cleared his thoughts of all distraction. And that's all any of it really was - distraction. Helen wasn't necessary in deciding his role here, besides transport. The decision had been made. The process would soon begin. Had already begun, if one counted the strategic location of the spheres which only awaited activation.

Klaatu nodded to Wu. A curt dismissal. He had much work to do here before his task was complete. He pushed back his chair and stood in a graceful, fluid motion. He was getting quite good at managing his human body. A small feeling of satisfaction accompanied that thought. He was unused to being bombarded with useless feelings over every event large and small. Of course, he could control it. He could cut himself off from those and other distractions.

Klaatu glanced back at Helen.

And still, despite his decision, he failed squash the flash of warmth at finding her eyes on him.

_AN: I had this little story going around in my head after watching TDtESS for the second or third time and just wanted to put it to the page. Hope you enjoyed my small offering which is meant as a stand alone piece. As I said before, it's a drabbleish thing. Perhaps could be continued, or should be, but not certain I have the time. You never know._


End file.
